The University of Westminster student, who has no feeling in her feet as a result of being born with spina bifida, told the Journal that watching performances from Paralympians, such as wheelchair athlete David Weir, had left her determined to get involved.

She said: “The Paralympics are what kicked me into thinking ‘right, I want to do this now.’ Every single race that David Weir competed in, I was sat glued to the TV.

“I thought ‘I could do that’ so I looked it up on the internet and I found the Wheelchair Racing Group.”

So far, Katherine, who lives in Edmonton, has been to just one training session with the group, thought to be Haringey’s first, and hopes to buy a new lightweight wheelchair for racing in the near future.

She added: “I’m loving it, I’ve only been to one session and I was in my everyday wheelchair. I like going fast, any chance I get to be moving fast in a wheelchair, I’m off! I would love to do a marathon at some point.”

The club’s coach Doug Stone, 24, who was also born with spina bifida, has been encouraged by the new interest in disabled sport since the Paralympics and is keen to get more people to join the club.

He said: “The main aim is to get more people in the area into wheelchair racing and to try and develop the sport in this area because having lived here all my life I know there aren’t many opportunities for people.”

Tamsin Fudge, Run! Athletics Activator for Haringey, said: “There isn’t a lot of disability athletics in Haringey. There is a gap and I’m trying to fill that gap to make sure that people regardless of their disability have the chance to get involved in something within Haringey.”

“Where to go for a drink near Great Portland Street?” was previously met with blank expressions and shrugs for those local to the area, not anymore, thanks to the opening of The Refinery at Regent’s Place, the eighth bar and restaurant from hugely-successful group Drake & Morgan.